It's vital to make honesty and integrity key parts of your group's foundation of long-term success. That's how John Barrett has done it for more than three decades at the Fortune 500 company he runs.
Barrett, chairman and chief executive of Cincinnati-based life insurance, investment advisory and real estate firm Western & Southern Financial Group, points to culture first when he talks about his company's success. That's the main reason Western & Southern, which owns or manages $125 billion in assets, has grown exponentially since he took over as CEO in 1994. It had $8.8 billion in assets then.
He sees integrity as being a key to long-term success. "If people don't trust you, the heck with it," he said. "You're not going to make good deals or have good relationships. If people know that you mean what you say and you say what you mean, you're going to be in much better shape."
Building Long-Term Success Takes Time
When Western & Southern developed Great American Tower at Queen City Square, which opened in January 2011 and is Cincinnati's largest office building, it was the result of a handshake deal with Carl Lindner III and Craig Lindner. They're co-CEOs of American Financial Group, which has been the building's largest tenant from Day One. They had known each other for years and developed trust.
Western & Southern was negotiating to buy Gerber Life Insurance Co. in 2018. Another company bid more, Barrett says, but Gerber parent Nestle picked Western & Southern. The deal included the 50-year use of the name, and Nestle wanted that brand equity protected. "They knew us and they knew we would respect and nurture it," Barrett said.
Operate With Honesty And Integrity Through Self-Awareness
Honesty is vital to build trust, says Tim Irwin, an Atlanta-based industrial psychologist, leadership consultant and the author of "Extraordinary Influence: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others."
"Trust is what allows the world to work," Irwin said. "We have to trust institutions and other people. And honesty is the main contributor to trust."
Irwin once surveyed hundreds of managers, asking for the most important trait they seek in their employees. Conscientiousness was the top answer. "That's doing what you say you're going to do," Irwin said. "If you say you'll have something done by Friday, it's done by Friday. If trust fails, everything else fails."
Start by being honest with yourself. Self-awareness keeps you on track to honesty and integrity, Irwin says. "You have to tell yourself the truth to tell others the truth," he said.
Golf superstar Tiger Woods learned this lesson the hard way. In 2009, he admitted to infidelity in his marriage. "He said, 'I told myself the normal rules didn't apply and that I was entitled,'" Irwin said. "When we lie to ourselves, it makes it much easier to lie to others."
Make The Hard Choices
Barrett builds trust through consistent behavior. "You have to have a track record of doing the right thing," Barrett said.
The company hires people based on integrity, too. "After you shake someone's hand, if you have to count your fingers, you don't want that person," he said.
Avoid the temptation to tell a lie to get a big sale by sticking to your principles. "It'll only bridge a short gap," Barrett said. "Then you have to make up that and more next time. Face the music now or you'll face calamity later."
Make it a tenet of your group to act with integrity and take the honest path rather than mislead people. "It's a common phrase to choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong," Irwin said. "When the leader builds that into the culture, it makes a huge difference."
Plenty of cases arise where you can get short-term gains by ignoring your values. Those choices shouldn't be difficult. "If your ethical guidelines are clear, normally you don't have to think too much about it," Irwin said. "The situation might have ambiguity, but your principles don't."
